


Reality

by riot3672



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Incest, Pietro Maximoff Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-07 20:40:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4277181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riot3672/pseuds/riot3672
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is eight months after Sokovia that Wanda discovers that she has the ability to warp reality. When Vision suggests that she test her new power, she knows only one bit of existence she wants to change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reality

Eight months. Eight months since Wanda had lost her other half. Eight months where Wanda couldn’t look forward or close her eyes without seeing Pietro’s face, his beautiful, goofy smile wiped off his face, his fidgety hands folded together across his chest, his skin cold. Months, months now Steve and Nat and Vision had tried to help her, had told her to think about him the way she had loved him.  

Nothing had worked. Nothing was ever going to work. The only way she could ever accept Pietro’s death would be if she died as well. For a while, for the days before the funeral, she had done that. She’d lost herself, prepared Wanda’s funeral. But, on the day they put Pietro in the ground, she couldn’t bear to put Wanda down there as well. She’d sobbed, she’d sunk to the ground, she’d begged herself to let go of the pain, but it wouldn’t go. Pietro wouldn’t go.

The only thing she could do where she felt the slightest bit numb was training. 

“Describe it to me again,” Steve said as Wanda sat in the training room with Vision, the other Avengers long having since stopped training.

Wanda wrung her hands, toying with a bit of hex energy. “I…I was babysitting Clint’s kids, and they were watching some cartoon. Lila asked me what it felt like to touch this…I guess it was a unicorn of some kind. The next thing I know, there’s a unicorn in the room. It wasn’t just me, though. Cooper and Lila and even Nathaniel saw it. Cooper just stared at it, but Lila ran up to it, and she…she started petting it. Like it was actually there. Then, as quick as it was there, it was gone.”

“You…You’re telling me that you conjured a unicorn? You conjured something that doesn’t exist?” Steve confirmed.

Wanda nodded. “I don’t—I know the scepter was powerful, but how could anything give me that kind of power? To…?”

“Alter reality,” Vision said. “Loki’s scepter, the Mind Stone, Wanda, the abilities it possesses is beyond what you can imagine. It _is_ possible.” Vision smiled. “You’re much more powerful than you think.”

“What does it mean, that I can alter reality? How can I be sure that’s what’s going on?”

Steve put a hand up. “Vision, stop. What are you talking about? Thor’s mentioned these infinity stones, but—what exactly do you think Wanda’s powers are?”

“It’s possible that she’s a wielder of chaos magic. It’s a very rare and one of the most powerful abilities in the universe. The ability to, more or less, alter the fabric of existence. It’s all but limitless. It’s been told the only limitation is whether or not the wielder’s body can handle the power.”

Wanda’s stomach twisted. “You…If I have this power—I don’t—I—“

Vision put a hand on Wanda’s shoulder. “Wanda, if you do have this power, wouldn’t it be best to learn how to control it now, when it’s just manifesting?”

It sounded like something someone responsible, something an Avenger would do. “Yes.”

Vision smiled. “Do you want to try now?”

“What would I do?”

“Anything. That’s the beauty of it. You could do anything.”

Anything. With the power to warp reality, she could make new species, change the social climate of Earth, bring the dead back to life.

_Bring the dead back to life._

“Within reason!” Steve interjected. “I mean, let’s not destroy the fabric of time just yet.” Steve paused. “Why don’t you…I don’t know, move something you know is on the other side of the world here?”

“She’s new at this, Steve,” Vision said. “Maybe you should pick it. Make something a reality that already is a reality in your mind, but isn’t real yet.”

“What?” was the last thing she heard Steve say from within the room.

Wanda nodded, and closed her eyes. She couldn’t quite say how she did it the first time, but thinking about what Vision said, she knew. She imagined the last time she’d seen Pietro in Sokovia. She imagined his smile, his little jape about being twelve minutes older, that way-too-tight athletic shirt that he never noticed showed off his nipples like those old Batman movies, and the way he had rocked back and forth as he stood. She imagined how it felt to have his hand in hers that one last time.

She opened her eyes, and she was no longer shaded by the Avengers training room. Above her was a sunny day growing colder, air growing thinner by the second. The chaos of Sokovia was all around her, and she could feel her heart skip a beat as she realized how close to the edge she was.

She hadn’t been close to the edge during the Sokovia mission.

Suddenly, she took it all in. The ruins of a shop, Ultron in a plane shooting at the ground below. Clint running to some civilian kid.

Pietro.

Pietro standing nearby, watching as Clint’s doom fell upon him. The moment Pietro would somehow manage to forget that he could run faster than bullets and get himself killed for Clint Barton and some kid.

It looked even more idiotic up close. She ran to him in a complete haze, tackling him to the ground before he could get into a complete running position. 

“What’re you doing here?” Pietro demanded, frazzled.

Wanda shot a hex at Clint and the kid, knocking them out of the way. 

“Shut up,” she said to her twin.

She had to get back now. She’d altered reality, now she had to get back. Was she supposed to leave Pietro? She didn’t—

The next thing she knew, she was in the Avengers’ break room, every stoic and unshakable Avenger’s eyes the size of saucers and jaws slack. Steve and Vision ran into the room, and Steve took on an expression similar to the others. Vision beamed.

Wanda was suddenly aware of the warmth that had spread from her hands to her torso. One look, and she realized that she was holding Pietro. Battle-worn, dirt-covered, just-as-confused-as-everyone-else Pietro. She burst into tears.

“Alright, who put LSD in the food?” Tony commented.

She cried into Pietro’s chest, balled his shirt into her hands, pushed her face into his skin. God, she’d never been happier in her life. 

“How did you guys get changed so quickly?” Pietro replied. “Why’s Wanda crying?”

“‘What’s going on?’” Nat said. “Yeah, we’re all wondering.”

Steve shook his head. “Wanda wields chaos magic.”

“Chaos magic?” Thor exclaimed.

Vision stepped forward. “Wanda can manipulate reality. She created a reality where Pietro never died.”

“Aren’t you not supposed to do that? Change the space time continuum?” Nat commented.

Vision shrugged. “I can’t see how it would hurt anything. It’s not clear what reality Wanda created.”

“Do you guys remember Pietro dying?” Steve asked.

“But if Pietro didn’t die, wouldn’t Wanda have never been propelled to have learned chaos magic and therefore never saved Pietro?” Tony said.

Clint held out a hand. “Wait!” He pulled out his cell phone and started texting. Ten seconds later, he threw his phone against the wall. “I STILL NAMED MY KID AFTER HIM!”

Wanda sniffled and wiped her eyes clear. What reality had she created? If everyone remembered Pietro dead, had she really brought him back to life? He felt real. Pietro had never felt as real as he had then. She could feel his heart hammering under hers and his palms sweating. He was here. He was here, and processing everything. He had to be real. 

“It appears the only thing Wanda changed was that Pietro is alive right now,” Vision said.

“Then what happened in Sokovia? Who revived him?” Nat asked.

“Wanda did. Just now,” Thor said.

“Okay, _stop_!” Pietro exclaimed. “What the fuck is going on? I _died_?”

Wanda squeezed his hand. “You…” she tried to swallow the lump in her throat, “you forgot about bullets…”

Pietro just stared at her.

“Look Petey,” Tony said. “You turned yourself into swiss cheese to save Barton. I don’t know why you thought that was worth it,” Clint glared at Tony, “but you did. Clint carried you back to the heli-carrier, and we buried you two days later. Like, I really want to go outside and see if someone’s still in the coffin in the backyard. Then, I guess your sister really is a witch, and just brought you back to life.” Tony paused. “Oh, and Clint named his kid after you and Vision’s been trying to get up in your _Flowers in the Attic_ affair with Wanda.”

“What?” Pietro said. “Why did I try to save Clint?”

“You drank a bit too much Captain America juice,” Tony said.

“Don’t make him regret it!” Clint said. “He might not do it again!”

“You mean for sure I never will,” Pietro said, embracing Wanda. He looked her in the eyes. “What did I put you through?” He kissed the top of her head. “I’m so sorry.”

For a moment that stretched into forever, she and Pietro embraced, and in an instant, she re-learned the place of every ridge of his body, where he was the hottest, what muscles he used to hold her. This was real. This was her brother, her twin, her other half, her everything.

“What’s the sequel to _Flowers in the Attic_ called?” Tony asked.

“Pietro,” Steve said. Pietro and Wanda looked up. “Do you want a debriefing about everything that’s happened? I…guess we can make you a uniform…”

Pietro smiled. “You mean…?”

“You’re as much an Avenger as your sister. I…still don’t know if I should be okay,” Steve shot a glance at Vision, “with this, but you’re here, and you’re useful.”

Pietro’s smile turned to a smirk. “Really?”

Clint had since left the room, and could be heard yelling, “No, Laura, we’re _changing his name_!”

“Yes,” Steve said. “Are you as shaken as the rest of us?”

Pietro shrugged. “The more you talk I am.”

“Then we’ll be quiet and you’ll be in the training room at seven tomorrow morning. You have a lot to catch up on.” Steve smiled. “Trust me, it’s doable.”

“Wait, before the twins go off to have some reunion sex, I need to ask Wanda,” Tony said. “Can you bring back 3-D Doritos?”

“What’re those? Is that a part of this time skip?” Pietro asked.

“No. They were discontinued in 2005. They were basically Doritos breakfast cereal.”

Pietro looked to Wanda. “You should do that.” He leaned in to whisper, “and bring them back by having them come out of his shower.”

Wanda smiled, the smile so long coming that it hurt her face to do. She leaned in and whispered, “I love you, dear brother.”

He mouthed “I love you too” back and looked around the table. “So…did we win?”

“Not right now. Now I have to pay for you and all the food you’re going to take,” Tony said.

“Against Ultron,” Pietro clarified.

“Oh,” Tony said. “Yeah. Aside from you, it went really well.”

Pietro nodded. Almost unconsciously, Wanda peered into her twin’s mind and saw the quick images flit through, watched as they blurred together beyond comprehension. Her quick brother needed to slow down, it seemed.

She stood up and pulled Pietro up with her. “C’mon, I’ll show you my room. I can squeeze you in.”

“There’s only one bed in there,” Tony commented.

Pietro threw her into his arms, and everything went by the blur she’d missed so much. She couldn’t say for certain, but it seemed like Pietro stole a plate off the table the Avengers had been sitting at, pushed Clint off his feet, and ran through the rooms until he found hers on his own. 

He set her down on the bed, and it was as if time stopped. Pietro’s eyes automatically fell onto the photos she’d framed of their parents and another of Pietro. He walked up to them and put his hand on the photo of their parents.

“It really happened, what you and the Avengers are saying…” Pietro muttered.

Tears burned in Wanda’s eyes. “I thought nothing could hurt more than losing Mom and Dad, but losing you…God, Pietro, it was like someone had thrown me into a vat of tar. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t see, I couldn’t feel. Everything reminded me of you, and every thought of you hurt like nothing I could ever believe. It was so much worse than the nightmares. It was—“

He moved to her and embraced her. He heaved a breath out along with her. “It’s over. I’m never leaving you again. I’ll never separate from you on missions, never even…” He tipped her chin up. “Never even leave this room without you, if that’s what you want.”

She nestled into the crook of his neck. “I missed you so much.”

She closed her eyes as he rubbed her back. He was right. He was never going to leave her again. 

She was Scarlet Witch, wielder of chaos magic. She would tear the universe apart to keep her brother in her arms. As long as she had Pietro, everything would be okay.

 


End file.
